


rusting metal and faulty gears

by RangerDew



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Mentions of Character Death, Well not yet - Freeform, anyway basically david is a robot campbell did some illegal shit to make that robot, david is a robot au, david's a mess lmao, jasper will be later too, just wait a couple chapters k, sorta writing this as it goes, still dunno how im gonna incorporate him, though that'll be later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-03-16 17:01:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13640574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RangerDew/pseuds/RangerDew
Summary: David is the camp robot, and he's an old, malfunctioning mess. Max can't stand him; his creaking, the sound of his gears turning, his constant oil leaks. Nobody wants him around, and nobody knows where he came from; they just know that Campbell's his owner. However, when Max decides to dig a little too deep into David's history, he finds things that he might regret knowing about.





	1. discovery

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in the summer of 2017 but i never got around to posting it, but i kept remembering it and i liked the concept?? so i spent a while looking for the file and it took me a while bc it was hidden on the second page but I FINALLY FOUND IT TODAY and i'm gonna continue writing it. no romantic relationships but i hope you enjoy lmao. also if u enjoy it like PLEASE LET ME KNOW i'm continuing an old gravity falls fic (also from summer 2017) bc this one person left 4 desperate comments asking for more

Max hated David with all his heart.

He hated getting up in the morning, taking in the calmness and tranquility of the air only to have it all ruined by loud creaking and the smell of oil and smoke.

He hated David’s overly optimistic attitude, how he always made light of every situation, and how he didn’t even seem to realize that he was a robot. 

David had supposedly been built by Cameron Campbell for the sake and safety of the children in the camp, and as Campbell said, “So the kids can have fun!” Max was pretty sure it was just because Campbell didn’t want to waste money hiring humans. 

David wasn’t even a good robot - he creaked all the time, and it sounded like fingernails scraping on chalkboard. You could hear his gears turning if you got near him, and if he touched you, you’d probably end up with a shitload of grease on your sleeves. He was rusty, his paint was dulled and peeling off, and the little brown vest he wore was in rags.

Max wasn’t even sure how long David had been around, or how the fuck he was still alive and running. When he had gotten dropped off at the camp a couple days ago, David had gotten hit by a bus twice and he was still okay. How the hell was this robot guy so indestructible?

Max did find a little bit of fun in messing with him, though. “Hey, David,” Max called out. “Can you divide by 0?”

Daniel turned his neck around, making a loud screeching noise in the process. “What?”

“I said, can you divide by 0?”

David’s eyes blanked out for half a second before having binary run across the space where his eyes were. He fell limp for about a moment before rebooting and regaining control of himself. He seemed shaken, but he straightened himself up. “What was that, Max?”

“Can. You. Divide by 0.”

Max had a little bit of fun, he guessed.

\---

“Dude, if this actually works, I will pay you every dollar I have stolen from Gwen’s room.” Max was leaning eagerly over at Neil’s “project” in his tent. Eager was not an emotion Max portrayed often.

“Be patient, will you? If I accidentally mess this up or something, he could transform into a killing robot.” Neil was staring at a tangle of wires inside of David’s chest. “Give me a minute, this stuff looks old.”

“What’s that metal box in the middle of all this mumbo-jumbo?” Nikki asked. She was pointing at a small rectangular box amidst the wirey mess. “I wanna open it.”

Neil squinted his eyes at the box. “Maybe it’s a control panel. I’m gonna see if I can get it open.” He looked around and grabbed a screwdriver and began unscrewing the nail on the metal box. “Jesus, this thing is stuck like glue.”

Max began to zone out while Neil was rigorously working on opening the metal box. His eyes landed on some imprinted words on David’s collarbone - PROPERTY OF CAMERON CAMPBELL. Huh, so maybe Campbell was the one who made Davi-

“Max?” It was drawled out, like a question. “I think you might wanna come and see this.”

Max groaned. “What now, Neil, did you hit a firewall or something? Really, you’ve dealt with way heavier shit than this, wh- oh my god.”

Neil was looking rather queasy as he looked down on the actual fucking beating heart in David. Nikki looked elated. 

Max couldn’t believe his eyes. “Guys… what the fuck?” Max’s head was spinning at a hundred miles per hour. “What the fuck?? How come we didn’t know about this???”

Neil’s face was turning a light shade of green. “Uh, Max-”

“Seriously, this raises so many questions. Does Campbell know this? Did Campbell even build him? WHOSE HEART IS THAT?” Max’s eye twitched. “Really, what the fuck??”

Neil looked around desperately for a barf bag. “Look, dude, I’m just as confused as you, but-”

“IS THIS BLACK MAGIC OR SOME SHIT? HOW IS THAT HEART STILL BEATING?”

“MAX, SHUT UP!”

Max whipped his head to look at Neil’s crazed, frantic eyes. Max began to slow his breathing. Neil sighed. “Look, I’m just as confused as you are, but I’m not sure I even want to know what’s going on. How about we just close this shit up and call it a day.” 

Max looked at Nikki, who was actually starting to look a bit uncomfortable. He looked at Neil, who had the composure of someone who’d just seen a ghost. Max sighed. “You know what, fine. Reboot him. Forget about all this… this shit. I’m leaving.” Max turned around and swiftly walked out the door, leaving Neil and Nikki behind.

Neil took a deep breath, and then closed up the little box with the still-beating heart inside of it. He screwed it back up, as tightly as he could, as if that could erase the horrifying sight from his mind. He then began screwing everything back together and closing David’s entire chest.

He turned David around and flipped the little switch near the bottom of his head. Gears turned, and Neil could spot binary code running across David’s eyes. David faltered for a couple seconds, before he blinked his eyes and the binary was replaced with neon green pupils in his black eye sockets. He creaked as he slowly propped himself up.

“...Neil? Pardon me, but, where am I?” 

“We were opening your body to reprogram yo-” Nikki began.

“No. We weren’t. We found you knocked out near the cabin. We helped you get rebooted.” Neil spoke with finality.

David just stared for a moment, and then his face resettled back into its usual grin. “Well, why, thank you, Neil! Your help was - and still is - greatly appreciated!” David happily got up from the little table he was lying on (Max had stolen it from the quartermaster’s store) and started walking out the door as if nothing had happened. He malfunctioned and fell limp right before he got out the door, like a blip in the code. A reminder that Neil didn’t just imagine what he just saw.

\---

David was beside himself in happiness. His campers were finally learning the true meaning of kindness and compassion! Neil had helped him reboot without even asking! What an act of kindness. David would have to reward him later.

As he strolled across the camp, he couldn’t help but feel that something felt weird in his system. How odd. He’d never felt like this before. Was this how his campers felt when they gained injuries? He couldn’t recall ever being injured. Well, no matter. Him feeling this way meant that he was finally connecting to his campers! If he could feel this weird injured feeling, then that meant he was getting closer to them! What more could he ask?

He hummed sort of an off-key tune, when he saw someone talking to Gwen near the mess hall. David could vaguely recall who he was - just a face, no name. He felt indebted to that man. 

He decided to go strike a conversation. “Hey! Gwen!” Gwen’s head turned to look at him as he shouted across the camp. David took this as an invitation, and began bolting towards the mess hall. 

He skidded to a stop in front of Gwen and the familiar man. “Hello, kind sir! How was your day? Are you here to see our lovely campus?”

Gwen sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose. “David, this is Campbell. Your owner. Your creator. Your master that has had you for God knows how long. Is it coming back to you now?”

David’s gears slowed for a moment as he tried to process it. This man... 

The man - Campbell - laughed heartily. “Ha ha! Oh David. You forget about me every time I leave camp.” He turned to look at David. “It’s me! Mr. Campbell!”

David jerked as his gears suddenly began spinning at an incredible rate. “Mr. Campbell!” 

He always mysteriously forgot about the man each time he left camp. The memories always came back to David after the man introduced himself. David owed this man his life - he didn’t exactly know why, but he could’ve sworn that this Campbell had saved him once. He would be dead if it weren’t for Campbell. At least, that’s the feeling that was brought upon him when he talked to Mr. Campbell. He supposed he didn’t have any memories as proof, but he just had a feeling deep down inside him.

Mr. Campbell beamed at him. “Well, David, I’d love to catch up, but I’ve got some business here. Maybe we can talk some other time. Well, if you don’t forget me in that time, of course!”

The last comment kind of stung, but David just happily nodded his head and saluted. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Max, Nikki, and Neil walking towards the mess hall - it was getting time for the last activity of the day. They looked warily at him - Max and Neil especially, as they trudged towards the hall. That was weird. David would ask them about that later. 

As he happily skipped to the hall, David decided that it had been a wonderful day.


	2. trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikki spies an ordinary trail of scrap metal that could lead to a massive discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this in like 40 minutes w/ no beta leave me alone

Max kicked a stone. “This is bullshit. All of this is bullshit.” 

Neil sighed as Max kicked another stone. “Listen, I’d rather not talk about it, okay? Can’t we just pretend nothing happened and that we just spent a day drying seaweed or something?”

“There isn’t even an sea here for seaweed, Neil. Don’t be a dumbass.”

Nikki tried to lighten the mood. “Guys, I wonder what activity we’re gonna be doing! I hope it’s something with a lot of fighting. Maybe we could Hunger Games it out with some squirrels.”

Max kept kicking stones. “What kind of shit is David hiding? I bet Campbell has something to do with this.”

Neil bit his nails. “Max, shut up…”

“This definitely isn’t legal. How did he get away with this? This definitely isn’t legal!”

“MAX!”

“WHAT?” 

Glaring at Neil, Max looked nearly insane. “There has to be something I’m not getting here!”

“Look, Max, I’m as freaked out about this as you are, but the more you open a fresh wound, the more it’s gonna hurt! Just leave it!”

“Well, leaving the wound untreated isn’t much better!” 

They bickered as they walked into the mess hall, Nikki following close behind. Nikki didn’t really know what to make of the situation - she had been weirded out by the heart, of course, but it was like, intriguing weird! Part of her wanted to know more. 

As Max and Neil continued their banter, Nikki noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A trail of scrap metal. Not out of the ordinary, especially at camp. But anything was better than Neil and Max arguing for the rest of the evening, so she pointed at the trail of metal. “Guys, look!” 

Max and Neil turned around, looking both angry and uninterested. 

Nikki blanked. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting or different about the metal. She had to think of something. That metal… 

“That metal might have something to do with David!” 

She regretted the words as soon as she said them. Sure, it would get them to stop fighting, but it would also catch Max’s interest. Max was already obsessed enough with the situation, and Neil just wanted it to be over with. Screaming about the potential relationship between the scrap metal and David would not help Neil’s side of the case.

Thankfully, Max didn’t buy it. “Nikki, I get that you want us to stop fighting, but really? A bunch of scrap metal? That’s stretching it.” 

For some reason, Nikki clung on to her lie. “C… Campbell’s over today, isn’t he? It’s gotta have something to do with David!”

Max paused before getting a strange glint in his eyes. He faltered. “Fine, then. Let’s investigate.”

Neil immediately began to protest. “What? No!”

Max brushed him aside. “Shut up, Neil.”

Neil’s eyes looked as if they were on fire. “Listen, Max, I am putting my foot down this time. I am not getting myself any deeper into this… this bullshit! I don’t want to get in trouble! I’m aiming for the top, you know, and I can’t be known as the camp troublemaker! Especially not this shit! Even you said that this is certainly not legal!”

Max spoke in a cold, monotone voice. “Stay behind, then. I’m going to find out what’s up.”

Neil was getting desperate. He spoke in a strained voice. “Why do you care this much, anyway? You never cared before!” 

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Now leave, me and Nikki and gonna look in for a while.”

“Wait, I’m coming?”

“Yes, Nikki. C’mon.”

Neil watched helplessly as his two best friends headed off after the trail of scrap metal, and away from him. His helplessness was replaced with anger, and then helplessness again. Fine. There was nothing he could do. Let them walk off, then. 

They don’t know what they’re getting themselves into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave comments i live for that Bullshit. also what does freeform mean


	3. stairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikki and Max go down into the scary, dark, horror-movie esque basement (and get nothing done).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im supposed to b doing hw rn but i got in a writing mood. also if you want me to put a tw in then let me know!!

“The basement? Isn’t this how horror movie setups usually start?” Nikki looked extremely uneasy as she looked at the scattered pieces of scrap metal leading down the dark stairway.

“Don’t be such a wimp, Nikki. This could be a huge clue.” Max made a face. “Or it could be a huge waste of time, but I sure hope not.”

Nikki gulped. “Max, maybe Neil was right. You-”

“Can we shut up about Neil already?”

“No, that’s not what I meant! I meant that usually, you’re not one to care about this type of thing! You’d usually turn your tail and run! What’s up with this?”

Max fell silent for a couple seconds. “I don’t know, Nikki. I just feel like I have to investigate it. This isn’t right.” 

Nikki opened her mouth to retort, but she stopped herself. She took a deep breath. “Okay, then. If you’re sure.”

“I’m not.” 

“That’s encouraging.” 

Max kicks a piece of scrap metal.

“Max!”

“What?”

“What if there’s someone down there? And they heard you kick that scrap metal?”

“I doubt it.” Max began to head down the stairs.

Nikki let out a fearful chuckle as she followed him. “Wow, you’re pretty damn brave for a ten-year-old, huh?”

Max sighed. “Listen, I don’t know why I’m doing this either. I told you, I just have to find out.” He kicked another piece of scrap metal. 

“This freaks me out. It kinda reminds me of that Jasper situation.”

“Don’t say that. The Jasper situation freaked me out.”

“Um, and this doesn’t?”

“This isn’t all paranormal-y, Nikki. It doesn’t count.”

“It might as well be, with that whole beating heart and stuff-”

“Don’t mention the beating heart. That creeped me out just as much as it creeped out Neil.” 

“Wouldn’t this basement trip just creep you out even more? What if we see something crazy, and go nuts like that guy in that one Shakespearean play?”

“I doubt it.”

Nikki wanted to talk more, to ease her own nerves, to set a lighter mood, but as they got closer to the bottom of the stairs, she felt more of an ominous presence creep up on her. It was kinda funny, when you thought about it. Normally, she would be the brave, rampaging one, and Max would be the paranoid scaredy-cat. 

Max stepped off of the stairs and onto the damp, rugged ground. Nikki followed him as he turned the corner. Her heart was beating extremely fast, but she didn’t want to think about it. Thinking about beating hearts while they were in a dark, scary basement didn’t seem like a good idea. 

Max suddenly put his foot down and stopped in front of her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Ah. A gate. It had, like, what, fifty padlocks on it? That seemed like overkill. Whoever was down here must really not want their secret to be discovered.

Max kicked the gate. It let out a metallic clang, but nothing happened. He kicked it again, as if it would actually do something. Nothing happened. One more kick. 

Nikki sighed. “Let’s go back now, Max.” 

“Why?”

“I mean, we obviously can’t open that door, right?”

“Of course we can.” One more kick.

“Max, there are like, a hundred padlocks on that thing. Where are we gonna get a hundred keys? Or a hundred passcodes?”

“I dunno.” One more kick. Max grunted.

“Fine. We’re coming back, though.”

“Duh. What’s camp without a little bit of adventure?” Nikki wasn’t looking forward to coming back, but saying those words filled her with confidence and adrenaline. Exactly. Who cares about paranormal bullshit and creepy locked gates. This was an adventure! For fun! She signed up for Adventure Camp and she got what she bargained for. 

Max sighed in resignation. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Nikki felt sort of scared turning her back on the gate, as if something would shoot out of it and impale her. Nevertheless, she turned around, and the two of them began their silent, awkward walk out of the basement.

She felt like the gate was watching her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pleas leave comments & come yell at me my tugmblr is rangerdew


	4. going downhill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tampering with David may actually cause some heavy problems in the long run. Also, Nikki and Max get interrogated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> longer chapter!!!! alright i gotta take a shower now

David stood in the mess hall, overlooking the campers as they listened to Gwen explain their activity. They were going to attempt to make a bridge out of marshmallows and craft sticks, and while David was excited and happy listening to Gwen’s instructions, he couldn’t help but feel that something was off. From the corner of his eye, he saw Nikki and Max emerge from a room behind the kitchen. Those troublemakers! What did they think they were doing?

David was about to go reprimand them when suddenly, Campbell seemingly walked out of nowhere and confronted the kids. He spoke in hushed whispers to Max, who tried his best to keep a poker face on. Then, he lead Max and Nikki back into the kitchen.

Huh. That was weird. Well, no matter. That whole exchange probably just meant that Campbell had decided to take up responsibility and reprimand to children to save David some extra trouble. David’s heart swelled with admiration. Campbell was always looking out for him, wasn’t he? 

However, as the activity went on, Max and Nikki didn’t come back, and David was beginning to worry (despite telling himself that there was nothing to worry about). Neil would be extremely lonely building that marshmallow bridge all by himself, and besides, this was a fun activity he had wanted Max and Nikki to participate in. It wouldn’t be the same without them.

Just when David thought they were going to miss the activity, Max and Nikki re-emerged from the room behind the kitchen without Campbell. David’s rusted metal gears began rotating so fast that they could’ve caught on fire. The activity was nearly over, but at least Max and Nikki wouldn’t miss the part where they tested the sturdiness of the bridges (David predicted that Neil probably had the sturdiest one, though everyone’s bridges looked great). 

Max looked around in disgust. “Jesus Christ, what did you do to this place? It looks like Space Kid threw up in here.” 

David confusedly looked around, and it was only now that he noticed Gwen’s tired, exasperated face, and the fact that Ered had started a marshmallow launching contest, and that Harrison was trying to magic his marshmallows into a living rabbit. In addition, Space Kid had, in fact, thrown up what looked like a whole bag’s worth of marshmallows.

Gwen was muttering under her breath - “Stupid old malfunctioning robot. His hearing’s running out. God, why couldn’t I be paired up with a normal counselor?” 

David felt something hollow in his chest upon hearing Gwen’s words. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like he had done something wrong. He’d never felt anything like that before. Was this another one of those “feelings” his campers felt, or was this a malfunction?

The foreign feeling passed quickly, though, and he held his head up high as he spoke in his chipperest voice possible: “Sorry, Gwen! I’m coming over to help out.” 

Gwen looked like she was trying very hard not to smash her entire hand against the wall right there, but she took a deep breath and conjured a pill bottle out of her pocket. She popped two or three pills in her mouth, and then asserted command as she began barking orders at everyone to clean up.

That was the end of the activity, since Gwen was tired and also too exasperated to deal with David’s robot malfunctioning. 

And if Max and Nikki were sneaking weird looks at David, well, he didn’t notice it. 

\---

Max didn’t know what he was expecting when Campbell had dragged him and Nikki into one of the back rooms in the mess hall. A gruesome murder? Maybe they would get turned into robots like David? He doubted Campbell would do something so bloody and rash, but after seeing David and the padlocked door in the basement, he wasn’t so sure what to believe anymore. 

Campbell stopped in a sort of secluded storage area, and he turned towards Max and Nikki. Max gulped. This was it. They were toast.

Campbell raised his hand, and Max nearly flinched a little. However, instead of knocking him out or whatever, he put his hand on Max’s shoulder.

“Listen. I’m not going to do anything to you kids. Can’t risk my camp’s reputation, after all.” He laughed heartily, and winked. Max didn’t find it funny. 

Campbell stopped laughing after a second, and his face turned serious. “Okay, Max. I know you’ve been poking around my… stuff.”

Max’s veins filled with ice. Shit. Were there security cameras down in that basement? He had to admit he didn’t really look. 

Campbell pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen, kid, I’m not really mad, just disappointed in you. I’m giving you a warning this time - don’t poke down there again, all right?”

Max found himself nodding. In his peripheral vision, he could see Nikki nodding too.

Campbell slowly nodded back, like he was dealing with stupid little children (which, you know, he sort of was, but the children in question weren’t exactly stupid). 

Campbell held a finger up. “Don’t leave yet, though. I have another question to ask.”

Max kept nodding, though he was carefully paying attention to every word Campbell was saying.

“Did you kids do anything to David?” Campbell laughed his hearty laugh again. “I know, it’s ridiculous, you kids can’t do anything of that level, but I just wanted to know.”

Max disliked the condescending tone in Campbell’s voice, almost like he didn’t believe the kids could do anything. He hesitated for a moment. “No,” he finally answered. “We didn’t do anything.”

Nikki laughed. “Yeah, I mean, what would we have done to him, anyway? He’s a stupid old camp robot. We don’t want anything from him.”

Campbell laughed again. God, Max was getting really tired of his laughs. They seemed friendly, but they had a hidden malice in them, like Campbell was trying to intimidate them. “Alright,” Campbell said. “You kids go back to your activity. What were you doing again? Performing a, what, dissection on marshmallows?”

Nikki laughed nervously. “Yeeaaahhhhh,” she drawled out. “That’s exactly what we’re doing.”

“Can we leave now?” Max was going to lose his mind if Campbell laughed one more time. “We’re going to miss the activity.” Then, just to humor Campbell, he added, “the… marshmallow dissection.”

Campbell patted Max and Nikki on their shoulders. “Yes, let’s hurry out. Wouldn’t want you to miss a fun, quality camp experience!” He then lead them out of the room, almost pushing them. As he deposited Max and Nikki in the activity room, Max couldn’t help but wonder what Campbell would’ve done to them if he knew they had indeed tampered with David. 

Well, he’d rather not find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think David thinks of himself as a human, but just not a normal human, like Gwen. Like, he knows he's a robot, and he's not surprised when someone calls him one, but it's sort of just, "Oh, yeah, I'm a robot. Oops, forgot about that." Like, the robot part is sort of underlying. It's sort of like when someone reminds you to take your pills and you're like, "Oh, yeah, I have a calcium deficiency. Oops." To be honest, I don't think David thinks too much about what he is. Like, I could be an NPC in a video game, but I don't really think about that. Campbell might've repressed some parts of his brain, I don't know. This is just a huge mess of a paragraph where I'm trying to explain what it's like in David's head. It's sort of all repressed, since Campbell programmed him to not remember what he used to be.
> 
> He's sort of zoning out and forgetful because of all that repression, not because he's an old robot or whatever. Well, maybe because he's old, but we just have to trust Campbell's handiwork on making him. Also, he's feeling negative emotions again because of the tampering done by Neil. I would think that Campbell sort of erased his ability to feel those to prevent rebellion or the resurfacing of his repressed memories.
> 
> Are these spoilers for the story? I don't know, but I'm mentioning them now just in case I don't get a chance to mention them later.


	5. awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow lmao i haven’t updated in forever. probably bc i had a super long danganronpa phase that lasted all summer. but im super bored rn and the opportunity to write presented itself to me, so here u go. it’s finally getting interesting!

David strided through the campsite after their very much successful marshmallow dissection activity. He had already said goodnight to the marshmallow-covered campers and was feeling very good about himself as he headed back to his “cabin”. (It was more of an old, broken down snack with a smelly cot in it, but that wasn’t important.) 

Ah, what a wonderful night! David breathed in the crisp, clean air. Well, as much as he could breath, anyway. It was more of just sucking air in and out of his system, but he liked to try and have the same experience as all his campers. 

His chest still hurt, though, and he couldn’t get the harsh words that Gwen had said to him out of his head. He grasped for the right words to describe it. Was he… sick? Had he ever gotten sick?

Spots began to dance in his vision. Oh dear, maybe he was actually sick. 

The last thing that crossed his mind before he blacked out was a blurry, out-of-focus image of the boisterous, laughing man that had visited his camp during the day.

—

The very loud, very annoying rings of an alarm clock shook Gwen out of her sleepy state. She gave a sleepy groan, and fumbled around until she hit the button that shut down her alarm clock. 

Gwen was also very much in a bad mood this morning. Today was the day they had scheduled their cardboard boat sailing competition, which was David’s brilliant idea to “bring the kids closer to Mother Nature”. Gwen thought they should’ve just planned a hike.

The competition was obviously going to be a huge disaster, but Gwen still managed to drag herself out of bed. She still got paid for doing her job, after all.

Gwen lazily brushed her teeth and changed into her signature camp tee and shorts. She then slammed open the door and began her long trudge to the mess hall.

She did not expect to be greeted by the sight of David, planted face down and clearly unconscious (or dead) in front of his shack.

Her mood just went from bad to terrible.

She grunted as she hoisted him up. “Just my fucking luck… you just had to faint, you useless lump of scrap, right here, on this day, where YOU. Wanted us to have a fucking cardboard boating competition.”

David was unresponsive. Gwen groaned. “Oh my god. You better not be dead.”

David had never looked less alive.

Gwen took a bottle of pills out of her pocket and swallowed a handful.

—

Gwen slammed open the door to her room and literally thrust herself onto her bed.

She had given up left David on the floor of his cabin after none of her maintenance tricks worked, and just left to do the boating race. She almost wished she hadn’t. She would’ve gladly spent a whole afternoon trying to fix David’s stupid, rusty ass if it meant she didn’t have to be the only counselor present, outside, in the burning sun, while trying to save at least five campers from drowning in their poorly-made cardboard ships.

God, she was tired.

And, as much as she hated it, she needed David. She couldn’t handle these pre-teen devils alone. 

Honestly, Gwen was this close to asking Neil for help before the disgusting smell of oil hit her nose.

It was coming from the shack. Of course it was coming from the shack.

She rushed over to David’s singular little cabin, and, lo and behold, there he was, puking out oil onto his shabby-ass floor. His eyes were blank.

Oh, god, what a nasty sight.

Oil was leaking from his mouth like a faucet. Gwen thought quickly and grabbed one of his oil refilling tanks. She unscrewed a cap on his lower back neck and jammed the oil tank in. Then, she grabbed his head and tilted it so that all the oil he was regurgitating flowed back into his body. Gwen let out a sigh of relief. Her mistake. She probably jinxed it.

David’s eyes flickered back to life. “...Who are you?”

Gwen let out a loud, exasperated groaned and massaged her temples with her oil-covered hands. “Oh god, he lost his memory again,” she muttered. She took a deep breath, and then started up again in a slow, condescending voice that suggested she had repeated this speech a billion times. “Alright, I’m Gwen. I am your camp counselor partner. I will be your friend, helper, and master for the rest of the summer, where we will be co-educators at this camp for colorful, unique children with passions and goals for life.”

David narrowed his robotic eyes as much as he could. Gwen could tell he was trying to comprehend the situation, just as he had tried a million times before. 

He seemed to come back to his senses. “...Gwen.” He paused, and repeated her name again. “Gwen.” It was almost like the name felt foreign on his robotic tongue.

He looked at her, straight in the eyes. A chill went through Gwen’s spine. “...Gwen. I… if you’re my friend, can you tell me something?”

Oh, this had never happened before. No matter how good Gwen was at denial, she still couldn’t put aside the feeling that something was wrong. Still, there was no harm in humoring him. She sighed, and replied in her usual tired voice. “Yeah, sure. What do you want me to you?”

In that moment, David’s eyes looked just like a human’s. “Why can’t I feel my skin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave comments i live off those


	6. questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen finds out a little more about David.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY its been two months what's up. turns out i only work on this fic when im bored as fuck, which i am. but the other part of the reason im finally deciding to update is because of the overwhelming positive feedback ive been getting? i didn't expect my 13-year-old self's angsty camp camp mystery fic to get this popular. back when i first started this idea i also expected a lot more angst and a lot less mystery, but there's a reason for that. back then i wrote this story for, yk, Angst Based Purposes and also because the plot was pretty wack, but now that my interest in camp camp is around 1.23%, im not that into... the Angst anymore. but i still love love LOVE the mystery genre, especially in fanfics, so im still doing that. DO expect angst though bc i do have fun uh, making people suffer. this ones a little short but enjoy

Gwen did a double take. What? As far as Gwen had remembered, David had never even had skin. David was a robot. Robots didn’t have skin. David had never had skin.

Then why was he sitting there, looking terrified, asking Gwen where his fucking skin was?!

Gwen gave a nervous little laugh. “Uh, David, partner, you’re a robot. What skin?”

Clearly the wrong thing to say.

David flipped out. “That’s-that’s not true! I’m a human! You can’t make me! You can’t make me!”

Gwen stepped back and laughed nervously. "Uh, what the fuck?"

David's breathing was getting more quick and uneven. Gwen didn't even know how that was possible, given that, you know, he was definitely a robot and not a human and oh God what was happening?

Gwen ran her fingers through her hair and shut her eyes tight. "Okay. Okay. I get it. I spent so much time with those insane little shits that I'm finally going crazy myself. In twenty seconds I'll wake up and David will be a normal, dumb robot again and I can go back to running this hell of a camp."

She opened her eyes. David was still there, curled up on the floor, looking like a mess and also looking like he wanted to get as far away from Gwen as possible.

Gwen took out her pill bottle and popped a handful into her mouth.

Okay, time to think of a plan.

\--

"Oh my God, that was literally the worst experience of my life. I think I would rather die throwing up marshmallows like Space Kid than go through that again."

"Stop overreacting, Max. I think it was fun drowning in a shitty cardboard box spray-painted with the grossest shade of blue in the world."

Max groaned. "Ugh, seriously, how have I not run away from here yet? The activities are all bogus, who thinks of these?"

"I mean, probably David. Can you really imagine Gwen willingly subjecting herself to supervising us in a cardboard boat race? She'd probably just tell us to 'do whatever the hell you want, don't cause too much trouble'."

Max froze. "Holy shit, Nikki. David wasn't there with Gwen."

"Uh, yeah, so?"

"David's always supervising us, Nikki. With or without Gwen. Haven't you noticed? I don't think there's ever been a time at camp when David wasn't there to supervise us."

"Nah, I can think of a couple times. Gwen called maintenance on him a couple weeks ago-"

"Well, even so, don't you think this is a bit strange? Especially just after we tampered with him a couple of days ago?" Max lowered his voice at the "tampered" bit - he was obviously still a little terrified of Campbell finding out, even if Campbell wasn't even on campus anymore.

Nikki rolled her eyes. Typical Max being overdramatic. "C'mon, it's probably nothing. He'll be in the mess hall by dinner, and announce whatever dangerous activity we'll be doing the next day. It'll all be okay."

\--

It was not okay.

Turns out, Gwen was shit at thinking up plans, especially when she was panicking. 

Listen to logic. Okay, logically, she should probably call the cops.

Scratch that. Logically, calling the cops would not make Mr. Campbell happy. He seemed to be a bit... mysterious about David. Gwen was pretty sure he was hiding something. David was probably bought off the black market or something, or stolen, or maybe built using illegal parts.

Okay, so no cops.

Calling Mr. Campbell, maybe? Gwen doubted Campbell would answer, though. The man was always busy going on wild adventures or embezzling funds and whatnot. Calling Campbell would be a backup plan at best.

She was thinking in circles. It had been maybe a minute or two and she still didn't have a Step One, and David (or, the thing that was supposed to be David) was freaking out on her floor. 

She sighed. Last resort. Time to put that psychology degree to the test.

She snapped her fingers to get David's attention. He flinched. Okay, already off to a bad start.

Gwen sighed. "Okay, little guy. Let's calm down and start from the beginning: what's your name?"

David did look... slightly calmer now. Wow! Gwen, getting someone to calm down while she felt like she was about to die from panic and heart failure? Achievement get!

"My name is Davey." David - no, Davey - sniffed. 

Gwen felt herself calm down, too. "Alright, Davey. Do you know where you are?"

Davey looked around. "No."

Of course he didn't. "Well... do you know where you were last?"

A pause. "...In the woods."

Gwen was getting more and more confused with each question. In the woods? What the fuck? Was she even talking to the same person here?

She mentally facepalmed herself. Obviously, she wasn't. This "Davey" didn't remind her of David at all - "Davey" seemed to have a younger mind. Maybe he was a reflection of David's childhood? But David didn't have a childhood, because, as Gwen kept trying to convince herself, he wasn't human. But then again, could she really be sure of anything at this point?

Gwen snapped herself back into reality. Okay, she was getting David - sorry, Davey. She was still getting used to that - to calm down. That was good. But she couldn't sit here with him all night. Well, she could, but part of her knew that her campers would probably burn the entire forest down.

She mentally noted to find herself a good therapist when this was all over and turned to Davey. "Alright. I can't sit here with you all night and, as much as I'd like to know more, I would also love nothing more for me to get the hell out of whatever dangerous situation I'm currently digging myself into. So, whaddya say we continue this conversation tomorrow, and I get you to meet the other campers? I'm sure you'll find one nice enough - well, "nice" is an overstatement, but you get the point - to let you stay in their tent for the night. Alright?"

Davey looked like he was slowly trying to process all the information. He nodded, still shaking.

Gwen got up from her kneeling position and extended her hand to Davey. "All right, little guy. Let's go to the mess hall."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope this was up to your expectations?? this is the most careful ive been writing a fic chapter EVER like usually i just Write Shit and hope it doesn't look like garbage but honestly rereading this fic and reading all your positive feedback is... Wow. like 1) some of this shit doesn't even sound like i wrote it and 2) im so surprised that people actually enjoy and have expectations for this. so, it's kinda scary having to live up to the expectations of people and keep this story going where people want it to go. i really really hope my writing hasn't gotten rusty (ha ha) and that this still lives up to what you guys want
> 
> also i made a playlist? just so y'all have something to do in the months-long hiatuses when i write this fic. i made it collaborative so you guys can add stuff but if you can't the just leave a comment with a song you think fits and I'll add it for you :peace_sign: just search up rusting metal and faulty gears on spotify and you'll find it it has anthony amorin and mystery skulls. sorry i can't get a link right now but ill try to get one up soon
> 
> Next Chapter: Davey is a dick. I think. I haven't written it yet and I tend to go with the flow when I write. Expect an update soon


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